The Great War of Kanto
by Mori Kurai
Summary: Story based on fan theories of a war once raged in Kanto before the games R/B/Y/G.  Akayama Rin, a young, yet skilled Pokemon trainer is discovered and recruited by a Kanto general, leaving her life well behind to fight a unwinnable war to the very end.


The field lay dark with its dead. Cries of agony echoing with fading frequency along the canyon's solid walls. There wasn't much to see now, just shattered bodies and armor littering the grass and weeds. The once peaceful river ran red, but that was only the lost elixir no one dead would need again.

My own breaths came shallow now as my outstretched arm clutched a tuft of green in fury. I would survive, in some way, I knew, but they wouldn't. Who would tell the lore of our past? People like to forget things like this. It makes them easier to live out their ephemeral lives, carefree under the blue of a sprawling heavenly expanse. No, it makes it easier for them to forget, and to not care. That is how the human race ekes out it's meaning; with nothing more than utter apathy.

A crisp breeze ran through the canyon now, moving with the scent of decay the strands of my hair not matted with death. Still something felt different.

Straining to open my eyelids heavily crusted with black, I managed to catch the faint glimpse of what allusive deity graced my presence. It did not speak, but with a mind more powerful than my own filled my hazy consciousness with warmth and assurance. Yes, my crippled body would survive and be healed. I would owe my words to the magnificence that would restore my life. I would owe my words to the world of those cursed apathetic followers.

"Awaken," it seemed to say, its sky blue fur lit with life-bestowing energy. Its mane flowing in dark blue ribbons, it's muzzle open lined with sharp canid teeth. Yes, my sight came back in waves as fresh and cool as a Northern wind. No longer were my feeble senses obscured with the battlefield of dead soldiers and their crushed allies; now a new scent was definable.

The light faded and I fell to my knees, apparently lifted by the creatures magic. It didn't hurt though. I didn't dare look up yet, first I bowed. It was the honorable thing to do. As I did so, I felt a paw press lightly on my back.

"You know what is expected; " The inner voice replied without tone or definition, " That is your duty." As the final soundless words reverberated in my mind the pressure disappeared as the deity left. I didn't get to see it. I didn't get to apologize or thank.

I clambered to my feet now, tying my long hair into a ponytail with a piece of string lying beside me. The field of green and orange between the walls of the great precipice were indeed marred with countless dead, all soldiers lost to this great war that would be forgotten. I sighed. There really was nothing to say. I had too lost everything. I gazed to the dead around me. All of my monsters too had passed. I couldn't bear to look at their lifeless eyes, and shook away the haunting image. Why had I been so foolhardy to die for a region that would not be there to protect me? And lose everything I loved. Yes, I was indeed a fool.

I took a step forward, making sure to avoid stepping on someone I knew. I just left the empty Monster Balls lying behind. I didn't want to touch one ever again. I wouldn't train or battle. War and fighting is what caused all this. I would never participate again.

I made my way to the nearest town. It took a few days, and I surprisingly had the energy to make it, Suicune had given me enough to survive. It must of knew...of course it knew. They always knew.

The townsfolk greeted me with a fevered passion. They had heard that the Battle of Fuchsia had left no survivors; and indeed they were right. I wasn't alive anymore, not really. Now I served a single purpose.

Children jumped about asking how many I'd killed and i refrained from saying 'everyone.' They were too naive to understand war. Just as I had been. Their mothers hushed them with sorrowful eyes; realizing the blood on my battered armor could have been their husband's. Or brother's. Or son's. And truthfully it probably was.

"What was it like?" On boy asked, scootching next to me by the bar counter.

"I thought kids weren't allowed in here." I replied in a shallow tone, noting the Bar's 20+ sign. The boy shook his head.

"My daddy owns this place," He said with a grin, "When my daddy comes home, he's gonna show me how to train monsters and he's gonna let me be a waiter 'n stuff!" I raised an eyebrow at the small child.

"You know he's dead right?" The kids face drained of colour.

"You lie!" He screamed suddenly punching my side with tiny fists, " You lie you lie you lie! He will come home! Takashi's daddy came back! So will mine! A-and" he replied sniffling back tears, "then you'll see soldier-girl! Then you'll see!" The kid dashed off into his mother's waist who appeared stony-faced at the doorway.

"Why did you tell him that?" She asked coldly, "That was cruel."

"The world is cruel." I said placing down my glass of sake, "And I've seen how cruel it really is. You all need to realize it. Your sons and husbands aren't coming home." I took another sip of burning alcohol. "I think they let me live really. It appeared to me as I lay dying. Suicune did, and I know it wanted me to tell all of you what really happened." I turned up from my alcoholic comfort to graze the eyes of the unsettled housewife. Her eyes were hollow and grief-stricken, she knew what I meant already. She nodded and sent her boy to the other room and sat down next to me onto a stool, ordering from the stand-in bartender the same glass of sake I had.

"Yes you're right. I know. It just hurts to hear it, we try to keep up hope, you know?"

I nodded in recognition of her words. She too had been through hell, I could tell.

"I don't know how to say this," She said placing a hand on my shoulder, "But thank you. We saw Suicune in the skies today flying towards the Fuchsia site...so much death... but tell me. Tell me your story."

I blinked. She was so forward in her question. I didn't think they really cared.

"That's the story right?" she asked again. "They save the ones of us with a purpose. I think the mighty North Wind itself wants you to relay the events. The legends all point to the great deities picking special people out to save and relay their messages. They like to work through us it seems..." The housewife trailed off looking into her own reflection.

"I'm Matsumoto Yuuki, by the way." She said suddenly forcing a smile. "What's your name?"

"My name is Akayama Rin," I began, gathering my bearings, "And this is my story; the story of the Great War of Kanto."


End file.
